b) A small investor gets professional expertise of the fund managers of the mutual fund.

c) It carries tax breaks and this benefit is passed on to the investors.

d) All the above e) None of these

9. With reference to India, consider the following statements:

a) A) Wholesale Price Index (WPI) refers to a mix of agricultural and industrial goods at various stages of production and distribution, including import duties.

B) The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in India is available on a monthly basis.

C) As compared to Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-WI), the WPI gives less weightage to food articles.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) Only B b) Only A and B c) Only B and C d) Only C

e) All A, B and C

10. In periods of boom, which leads to economic instability, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) resorts to

a) Sale in the market of first-class securities in its possession to reduce the supply of money as a measure of open market operations.

b) Buying of approved securities in the market as a measure of open market operations.

c) Hike in the Bank Rate as a measure of open market operations.

d) All the above e) None of these

11. In order to comply with TRIPS Agreement, India enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection Act, 1999. The difference(s) between a ‘Trade Mark’ and a ‘Geographical Indication’ is / are.

A) A Trade Mark is an Individual or a company’s right whereas a Geographical Indications is a community’s right.

B) A Trade Mark can be licensed whereas a Geographical Indication is assigned to agricultural goods/products and handicrafts only.

a) Only A b) Only A and B c) Only B and C

d) All A, B and C e) None of these

12. Which of the following instruments of credit control adopted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does not fall within ‘general’ or ‘quantitative’ methods of credit control?

a) Stipulation of certain minimum margin in respect of advance against specified commodities.

b) Open market operations c) Bank rate

d) Variable reserve requirements e) None of the above

13. Which reference to the National Investment Fund to which the disinvestment proceeds are routed, consider the following statements:

A) The assets in the National Investment Fund are managed by the Union Ministry of Finance.

B) The National Investment Fund is to be maintained within the Consolidated Fund of India.

C) Certain Asset Management Companies are appointed as the fund manager.

D) A certain proportion of annual income is used for financing select social sectors.

Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

a) Only A and B b) Only B c) Only C and D d) Only C

e) All A, B, C and D

14. The term ‘moral suasion’ refers to

a) The moral duty of a borrower to deal with only one bank

b) The banker’s duty of secrecy as regards the affairs and accounts of his customers.

c) The advice given by the Reserve Bank of India to banks/financial institutions in the matter of their lending and other operations with the objective that they might implement or follow it.

d) All the above e) None of these

15. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with regard to RTGS, has decided that

a) RTGS would be accessible to all retail customers.

b) There would be no floor ceiling for routing transactions through RTGS.

c) Settlement of transactions of the clearing corporation of India and the stock market would be conducted through RTGS.

23. The Security Council of the United Nations consists of five permanent members and the remaining 10 members are elected by the General Assembly for a term of

a) One year b) Two years c) Three years

d) Four years d) Five years

24. Which of the following pairs of books and authors is not correctly matched?

a) The Audacity of Hope-Bill Clinton

b) Lucknow Boy – Viond Mehta c) An Argumentative Indian – Amartya Sen

d) The Sense of an Indian – Julian Barnes e) Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh

25. Which of the following is not an activity of merchant banking in India?

a) The management of customers’ securities

b) The management of portfolio

c) The management of projects and counselling as well as appraisal

d) The management of underwriting of shares and debentures.

e) None of these

26. Who among the following has been elected as the Speaker of the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha?

a) Govind Singh Kunjwal b) Harbans Kapoor

c) Vijay Bahuguna d) SS Singhal e) BC Khanduri

27. Which Marathi poet and author, popularly known as ‘Grace’, passed away recently?

a) Namdev Dhasal b) Mangesh Padgaonkar c) Manik Godghate

d) Manohar Oak e) Varjesh Solanki

28. Which of the following Indian swimmers has been banned for two years after testing positive for an anabolic steroid?

a) Sandeep Sejwal b) Veerdhaval Khade c) Richa Mishra

d) Amar Muralitharan e) Surya Prasad

29. To condemn ethnic cleaning and uphold secularism, which of the following activists has recently joined the ‘Global March to Jerusalem’?

a) Swami Agnivesh b) Sandeep Pande c) Kiran Bedi

d) Arundhati Roy e) Nafisa Ali

30. The Government has taken a certain decision regarding MGNREGA. Which of the following decision is true?

a) The Government will not amend MGNREGA.

b) The State government will revise the wages.

c) Wages will vary according to the authority who allots them work.

d) The wages in every state will be the same. e) None of these

31. Who is the author of the book titled I Too Had a Love Story?

a) Chetan Bhagat b) Ravinder Singh c) Preeti Shenoy

d) Devdutt Pattanaik e) Amish

32. Which of the following countries, apart, from India, share water of the river Brahmaputra?

a) China, Bhutan b) Pakistan, Bangladesh

c) China, Bangladesh d) Bangladesh, Bhutan e) Pakistan, China

33. According to a new proposal in Budget 2012-13, you can buy bullion and jewellery worth Rs.2 Lakh or more in cash even if you don’t have a PAN Card. Which of the following statements is true in respect to this?

a) The seller shall collect tax at the rate of one per cent of sale and deposit it with the authority.

b) Buying jewellery worth Rs.2 lakh is not liable to tax deduction.

c) It is not the responsibility of the seller to collect tax.

d) It is the responsibility of the buyer to deposit the tax e) None of these

34. Which of the next nation to be exempted by the US from financial sanctions for slashing purchasing of Iranian oil?

a) Sri Lanka b) China c) India d) North Korea

e) Libya

35. To promote water-efficient agriculture through sustainable and efficient use of resources, the World Bank has approved 109 million USD to which of the following states?

a) Punjab b) Uttar Pradesh c) Bihar

d) West Bengal e) Rajasthan

36. Which four states have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation under the Indian Statistical Strengthening Project (ISSP) for the States and Union Territories?

37. For which religious trust of India are Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy and Metroman E Sreedharan among six eminent personalities who have been nominated by the concerned state governor?

38. Which of the following global mutual funds giants has recently decided to quit Indian market?

a) Fidelity b) JP Morgan c) Vanguard

d) Federal Prime e) Dodge & Cox

39. Which of the following states has the World Bank President Robert Zoellick recently visited to see the implementation of the World Bank – funded mangrove conservation efforts and activities under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project?

a) West Bengal b) Orissa c) Andhra Pradesh

d) Gujarat e) Tamil Nadu

40. Which state has recently restricted the use of English dailies and some vernacular language newspapers in state-owned or sponsored and aided libraries?

a) Delhi b) Jammu & Kashmir c) Nagaland

d) Manipur e) West Bengal

41. With over 567 companies from 32 countries and 60 delegations, Asia’s biggest defence exhibition ‘DefExpo-2012’ was held in which of the following cities?

a) Mumbai b) Delhi c) Bangalore

d) Srinagar e) Goa

42. Which of the following countries has recently increased the fee for H-1B work visa, which India has taken up at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)?

a) United Kingdom b) Canada c) United States d) Dubai

e) China

43. Which of the following supersonic missiles was successfully flight-tested recently?

a) Brahmos b) Agni V c) Prithvi d) Dhanush

e) Agni IV

44. Recently, the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (AIGFTF) called a country wide strike because of

a) hike in excise duty on import of gold on unbranded jewellery.

b) hike in import duty on unbranded jewellery.

c) hike in excise duty on import of gold of branded jewellery.

d) not increasing the excise duty o branded jewellery

e) None of these

45. The currency notes issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have a cent per cent cover in:

a) Approved assets b) Gold c) Foreign exchange

d) Trustee securities e) None of these

46. Who among the following economist coined the term BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) symbolizing their backwardness?

a) Gunar Myrdal b) Raj Krishna c) Ashish Bose

d) Paul Krugman e) S Gurmurthy

47. Most of the time you read in a newspaper about a team ‘disinvestment’. What does the term mean?

a) The selling of government stake and buying them back

b) The selling of public sector stake

c) The selling of government stake in public sector undertakings

d) The process of buying an asset to meet financial goals e) None of these

48. Consider the following statements:

A) The Suresh Tendulkar Committee was set up to suggest new formula for identifying the people below poverty line.

b) Tendulkar’s new formula adopted the ‘cost of living’ as the basis for identifying poverty.

c) Earlier, the Dadekar Committee’s formula for identifying poverty was based on calorie consumption.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? D

a) Only A b) Only A & B c) Only A & C d) Only C

e) All A, B & C

49. The finance ministry, concerned over the steep rise in bad loans, set up a committee to suggest sector – specific mechanisms to address rising issues. With respect to the statement, which of the following statements is not true?

a) The ministry has decided to set up the committee after rating agency Moody’s downgraded the Union Bank of India one notch due to its high level of troubled assets and low provisions for coverage.

b) The committee will have representation from the finance ministry, the RBI and some banks.

c) Finance Minister in Budget 2012-13 has allowed $1-billion external commercial borrowing (ECB) for the airline industry for one year.

d) Rise in bad loans has affected farm sector lending as well

e) All the above are true.

50. What was the target of electricity generation during the 11th Five Year Plan?